MENDICANCY: THE CASE OF GENERAL SANTOS CITY

Mendicancy is a long-running issue prevalent in the streets of General Santos City. For years mendicants have been put at risk for vagrancy and becoming nuisance to every local constituent. Facing this problem, the City Government of General Santos enacted City Ordinance no. 09 series of 2017 to provide solutions on the perennial problem of mendicancy in the city. The aim of this paper is to know the reasons behind the proliferation of mendicancy in the city, the level of awareness of every constituent and the response of concerned agencies with regard to the anti-mendicancy ordinance.

This study adopted the quantitative-qualitative type of research method in gathering relevant data about the study. As a specific methodological choice for the study, it employed Key Informant Interview (KII), Survey Questionnaire, and Archival Research.

The study found that mendicancy is still proliferating in General Santos City because of the incapability of the government through its concerned agencies to fully implement the directives provided by the city ordinance. Among these directives includes the imposition of fines and penalizing violators. It was also revealed that most constituent have a very low awareness when it comes to the existing anti-mendicancy ordinance. Lastly, it was also found out that non- government organizations and other agencies and institutions are actively engaged in supporting the main implementing agencies and contributing to efficient service delivery of the government in dealing with cases of mendicancy.